What is the simplest way to turn a .psd into usable web images via gimp?

Question

I've got a .psd design for a website, nicely separated into all the layers by the designer.
I'm using Gimp. Is there a way to automatically turn all the layers into web-usable images, as the starting attempt (if there's a few that aren't usable and I have to edit the layer manually, that's fine, I'd just like to cut down a majority of the work)?

Ideally I'd like to just transform everything into .png images, preserving transparency.

If not, is there some way to do it in photoshop instead, if I got access to that?

Answer 1

I don't know much about Gimp but there are 2 ways to do it in PhotoShop. Also, if the files were created in PhotoShop Gimp can have issues showing all of the layers so it may not even be a viable solution.

The first way is create slices with the slice tool and then do File>Save for Web & Devices. This will allow you to save the page in chunks. This is a very easy way to do what you want and it is the way I do it. It allows you to create images of multiple layers together.

The other option is to use File>Scripts>Export Layers to File. I have had limited success with this. If you have a lot of layers this will take forever. Even if you have a few layers it might not be your best solution because if you have 2 images that need to go together to make 1 image on the site and they are in different layers they will come out separately.

Answer 2

I've used Paint.net (which is also free), with a PSD plugin to get usable images.